Strictly speaking, no one needs a watch these days but surely I can’t be the only technophobe suffering from phone fatigue? Despite the best efforts of fashion designers to piggy-back on the mobile phone bandwagon (Prada’s LG, Samsung’s Giorgio Armani and the $28,000 Lady Dior for starters) there’s something about an old-fashioned wrist-watch that still resonates with me. I have quite a nice little collection of watches ranging from Swatches (including my prized Vivienne Westwood orb), to an Hermes Medor (took months of savings), a Peter Blake Tikkers and my goes-with-everything Cartier Tank. Yet still I lust for more.

I’m not a big fan of Louis Vuitton’s clothing but Marc Jacobs’ debut watch collection for LV threw up this Emprise watch – a 45 thousand pound extravaganza on an alligator strap, encased in 18k diamonds. Who said bling was dead?I’m also strangely drawn to the so-gaudy-they’re-beautiful monstrosities that are Zadora watches – how can you not love these exotic jewelled creatures that sit atop a stingray watch-strap? Surely the Judith Leibers of the watch world…Then there is this intriguing vintage number from Hermes, called a ‘belt watch’ but surely it couldn’t be a belt! Can you imagine? So must be a precursor to the flip-up Medor watch.My ultimate timepiece however is this vintage Hermes Movado pocket-watch, a genius feat of self-winding engineering that resides in its own calf-skin case. Why buy a for-this-season-only designer phone when you can have one of these beauties and cherish it forever?

18 Comments

Bobble Bee3 November, 2008 @ 12:22 am

oh i CAN NOT live without a watch! everyone asks me, why don’t you just use the cellphone? well… sometimes there’s not battery in my phone and still I NEED to know what time it is!! as simple as that..I’d die for having an HERMES 🙂

I completely agree with you, Rollergirl. I’ve been a vintage watch collector for years, and I really enjoy having a watch on my wrist, even though I’m also very attracted to the technology that gadgets such as Smartphones/etc.

There’s beauty, workmanship, art and history in a watch. Phones may have all those things, but they don’t have history.

I have an old Hamilton that’s inscribed: “Roy L. Mitchell 1941.” Find me a phone that has that. I also have my great grandmother’s vintage watches, pieces that still run today.

I can’t live without a phone and I certainly can’t live without a watch. I had to wait until I was 40 before receiving a Cartier but it was worth it and 6 years later hasn’t even had a new battery – cost per wear? 6 years, 365 days per year, the watch was £1.500 (i think) – you do the math!

I love this post seeking help towards decision making genius! Being a fashion graduate (like many others and hundreds of girls). I myself can only rock?… the erm. Argos variety (really not much choice there at all, well unless you want to decorate yourself with a baby pink ‘forever friends’ watch. Think I will give that a miss?). I’m straying off the path here, go for the Zadord (Alice in wonderlandesque) watch. Brilliant, its a piece of art that could transform any outfit.Hell that watch could transform gym gear into a ball gown!

So, DRG, would you say you like watches or like like watches? Hee. They’re pretty damn cool. especially the ones with the critters atop. I’m not a collector but I would say it’s pretty satisfying to have a chunky timepiece with a sturdy leather strap on your wrist. I’d feel naked without a watch.

Sigh. I feel like a traitor, but I’ve totally resorted to phone/watch use. I have several lovely watches, nearly all gifts, that are languishing with dead batteries in my jewelry box. But I agree that the Hermes pocketwatch is sheer genius – love it.

Welcome to Disneyrollergirl, the fashion blog by London-based fashion editor, Navaz Batliwalla. Disneyrollergirl is the go-to resource for fashion and beauty industry insights, emerging trends and editorial shoots from an industry insider’s point of view.